The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1887-11-05

NAAOAA ttACAAf9A W S1AAaH '%AS tN%N " 49,
born and bred in comparative Sc
clusion. The elder, Ellen, was dark
eyed and dark haired. Addie was
II, two years younger than her sis
ter, and a yellow haired and blue
eyed blonde. The apparition they
presented astonished us. l think
all the men took off their hats in
stinctively. l know did. And as
my hat was a real Mexican some
brero, and matched the long Mexi-
can spurs that jingled on my heels,
l was rather fond of keeping it on
my head.
at was Ellen who spoke, the
other staying a little behind. Sir,
she said, in a troubled voice, you
look like a gentleman. One of your
men has taken our guitar. 1t is all
we have left, and it is a great conso-
lation. Will you not be good
enough to have it returned p
"The guitar was returned to her
forthwith as quickly as the man
could be found who had it. She
was profuse in her thanks, and the
light in the younger sisters eyes at
the salvation of the instrument in
dictated how highly it was valued.
The corn and supplies they did not
appear to grieve over particularly,
as l presented any destruction to
the cribs or unnecessary damage to
the property. Consequently l was
very Hospitality received in the
house. The family consisted of an
old man named Sunderland, his
wife and three daughters. Sunder-
land was well to do planter, though
too old to take arms. He was a doc
tor by profession and a Methodist
preacher by choice. His family cir
Gle was, in its refinements and the
beauty of the girls, something charm
ing, particularly to a horse soldier
who for some years had known only
the roughness of the camp. The
eldest daughter was married, her
husband being a captain in the Con-
federate army. The other two were
our fair petitioners, and with them l
enjoyed fattering degree of popu-
larity from the start
The commander-in-chief stopped
and gazed with a satisfied smile into
the Alabama of twenty years ago.
"Well," he said, picking up the
thread of the story, 81 need only say
that their fate was in my hands, that
all is fair in love and war, and that
from that day forth l simply owned
the place, cornfelds, niggers, guitar,
and Methodist preachers all includ-
ed. And gentlemen'-and he
dwelt with some particular meaning
emphasis upon the "and"--"she,
Ellen, was 10 and l was %.
During the next two months all
our foraging somehow was in their
direction. 1t seemed, perhaps, to
the horses, that everything available
in the food line had migrated to the
district back of the. Sunderland
plantation, which had to be passed
in order to light on anything at all.
There were something about the
Sunderland cuisine, too, that must
have appeared very tempting to my
men, for did not willingly, l be-
lieve, miss a meal. Ellen and |, in
fact, were constantly together. The
old folks made no objection. The
blue eyes Of the golden haired sister
beamed the sweetest kind Of appro-
val, the days were long and the twi
lights of TIE dim old fir woods per-
feet, and-I believe / mentioned the
fact, gentleman, said the command
er-in-chief, with a sigh, "that she
was 10 and | was %.
81 might remark parenthetically
that there is nothing in life quite SO
fascinating as to be isolated in the
wilderness in company with beau
tiful woman. Several books have
been written with that one idea to
carry them, and, like Charles Reade's
Foul Play, they have always caught
the public's eye. There was no
sentimental talk between us. The
crack of the guerrilla rifle, the dis
SAINT boom of battle, the war smoke
/
in the air, and the period when no
one knew what a day might bring
forth, were very ill adapted for sin
cere love making, and that any
thing in the shape of man could have
made love to Ellen Sunderland in
sincerely it would take pretty bet
ter cynic to believe. But we were
together none the less; together
when the tree shadows crept slowly
across the hot, still, brown fields, as
the sun sank lower and lower to-
ware the mountains submits: to-
pether in the stiffness and loneliness